Tom English, writing for the Scotsman, reflects on a less than convincing performance by Scotland.
"Al Kellock said it all at the end. What pleased him most? "The win," he replied. What kind of a performance was it? Not the best, he remarked. "I just want thank everybody for coming," said the Scotland captain. "I know it wasn't the most attractive game to watch."
Well said, captain. But you were probably understating it. The game was an attritional nightmare, one that happened to have an extremely encouraging beginning for Scotland but which sank into an arm wrestle that had everybody wincing and, at times, yawning. Bottom line, though. The win. Two from two. Two tries as well. And a fine display from Nick De Luca in attack. Beyond that? A gruntathon. It was ever thus with Italy.
There can't be any doubt that Andy Robinson knew precisely who his chosen men were before this Test match. You don't spend a few years around these guys without knowing everything there is to know about their strengths and weaknesses as players, their mental capacity to cope with the kind of examinations that will soon be upon them. We could speculate all we like about Simon Danielli or Nikki Walker (who was worryingly stretchered off in the second half) for the last remaining spot on the wing and the likely two from three - Johnnie Beattie, Richie Vernon and Al Strokosch - in the back-row, but Robinson knew it all coming here. This game was about working the combinations rather than making discoveries. As such, you have to wonder how much use it was."
RSS feed
